Organizing Minor Settlements Project

[Solaghar]

A few years ago, Lathander led a minor settlements project that aimed to fill out some of the blank spots on our map. I'd like to begin another such project for this year, to get more people involved in the fun and exciting world of building! This is the easiest way to do it, you don't need any experience, you just need to be able to write a nice description for a few rooms and a few mobs and you'll see your idea brought to life in the game. The sky's literally the limit. You could do anything you can imagine... for example I'm currently working on a minor settlements area like this to help add some new places to the Underdark Wilderness. It's about halfway done and the area currently compromises as diverse a group of areas as...

A dwarven clanhold
3 Duergar military outposts guarding the borders of the city of Gracklstugh
A hidden temple to Ghaunadaur, god of oozes
A ruined dwarven city consumed by the giant fungus Araumycos
A svirfneblin gem mine
A floating tower of devils
A wizard's tower
A stone giant clanhold

None of these settlements exceeds 10 vnums! Yet each one has its own story, purpose, and potential quest. What I'd like to do is to put together a similar project for anyone who has an interest in improving the game to work towards. You tell me, where do you want to create, and WHAT do you want to create? a small village? An outpost of some big city? A few mobs to fight? A temple? Whatever?

Take a look at the map for inspiration! http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/wd_ma ... ge_150.jpg

I'm going to set vnums in blocks of 5, 10 or 20, depending on how much you want to do or have in the area. So let's start off! If you have any questions or ideas, feel free to ask, I promise that no matter how unskilled you are at building, I will do everything I can to help make your idea become a reality, and when you see your own area in the game, that's definitely a really cool feeling.

Minor Settlements 2
=======================
Solaghar - Dogfang Clan - A small settlement of Orcs in the Sword Mountains to the Northwest of Waterdeep, 20 vnums Planning
Atraos - Redclaw Tribe - A settlement of escaped Goblins near Menzoberranzan, 15 vnums Planning
Lysha - Lizard Marsh - An alligator-infested swamp near Waterdeep, 20 vnums Planning
Bellayana - TBD
Duranamir - Cambion Hunting Party - A hunting ground of Cambions from Zelatar operating in Zrintor, the Viper Forest, 5 vnums Planning
Vibius - Shrine of Grumbar - A shrine of Grumbar, elemental god of Earth! 1 vnum DONE
Tandria - Shrine of Lurue - A shrine to Lurue, goddess of unicorns. 3 vnums DONE
Melusine - Shrine of Istishia - A shrine to Istishia, elemental goddess of Water! 2 vnums DONE
Orplar - TBD
Gwain - Shrine of Gargauth - A shrine to Gargauth, god of betrayal. 2 vnums DONE

[Solaghar]

By the way I got a lot of PMs about this, just post your ideas here in the thread! Don't be shy, even if you don't want to go with your idea, others might be interested in picking it up and running with it. A post is not a commitment to marriage or anything

[Casamir]

Here is a short list of some things that come to mind.

1.A Nighthaunt and other ancient undead within forgotten city ruins in the sunrise mountains, maybe waiting to be called by a certain Zulkir and invade Thay...

2.Speaking of Thay, a small redoubt bordering Rasheman full of red wizards and slaves.

3.A cave in Icewind Dale, outside are corpses of dead Elk Tribe, an ice serpent rises if you inspect them. Inside the cave is a small pack of yeti and verbeeg, under the thrall of a young White Dragon to the back of the cave. All awaiting earnest adventurers to try and earn themselves titles of Giantkiller or Dragonsbane.

4.And from dragons, the Forest of Wyrms has a surprising lack of wyrms besides wyverns. A nest of dragons and maybe some dragon worshipping cultists, like the Cult of Tiamat. Which also brings the option to use many of the different Dragonspawn which take up a huge chunk of the fourth monster manual.

5.The Evermoors allegedly have many tunnels deep under them, full of trolls. Going back to the early Drizzt series, this is supposed to be one of the most dangerous and inhospitable of places due to the sheer volume of trolls. Perhaps a tunnel is being excavated to undermine the defences of Nesme, there are an amazing variety of troll subspecies yet to enter the game. All of this perhaps lead by a certain two-headed troll chieftain.

6.The City of Shade has not returned to the Anauroch, but perhaps an advanced scouting party of Netherese Shades have unearthed some ancient Netherese ruins in the Desert? The hearty adventurer you are, you stop them, only to realize too late they were trying to stop a rogue Phaerimm from escaping. When you wipe out the boss Shade, you have their ancient enemy to contend with.

7.An oni or ogre magi Warlord from Karatur has ventured out of the East, and ended up in the great gray Thar. She has declared Herself the new Tharkul (the ancient ogre king hero of the region) and wields the legendary Vorbyx's Hammer. She holds court in the ancient palace fortress of the Tharkul, raised anew, along with Her bulette-riding heavy cavalry of armoured ogre lancers.

8.Ikemmu. If there were to be anywhere in the Underdark to be introduced, I would pick Ikemmu. Not that we build the city itself but, after reading the Unbroken Chain, call it an underdark city half planar-shifted onto the plane of shadow. Half the rooms are cloaker built ruins, and then you cross this 'curtain of shadow' and the rest of the area is a weird mirror image of the previous rooms. Only twisted like 'through the looking glass,' perhaps some furniture is on the ceiling, some ordinary things are abnormally sized, you try and move left and you are intercepted and forced to move right. Basic commands like sheath and draw are reversed. The area is full of spiked-chain wielding Shadar-Kai and skulks. When you cross the curtain you are in for shadow mastiffs, giant shadow walkers, a nightmare or maybe a couple night hags. The second to last room has a mirror with panes of living black glass like oil, you see what appears to be a shadow dragon in the room with you, reflected in the murk. However if you are foolish enough to pass through the mirror, it turns out not to be a shadow dragon, but an Astral Stalker bound inside the mirror and starved of all prey.. until now.

9.Within the Alamir mountains bordering the Lake of Steam, there is a giant black diamond inside a vault sealed off from the world. When a deep mineshaft eventually cracks into this ancient and forbidden chamber they unleash a horror upon the world. The foul Seeds of Corruption, which have been known to corrupt the gods themselves (see origin of Auril,) were thought to have all dissipated with the death of Moander. This may be true, but what of those already corrupted? The foul artifact may be gone, but unfortunately it's immortal jailor is not. An Inevitable guarding the vault was eventually corrupted and went dormant, that is until someone woke it up. Now complex metal machinery and a rising horde of automaton abominations (think clockwork zombie gnomes!) taint the mining compound, their corruption threatening to spread.

10.A ghost ship, a mob forever wandering the trackless sea, and visible only at a certain time of night. Ware those who would board this spectral frigate, the eternal vampire crew may not be soon willing to part with their treasure, though they are happy enough to part you from yours.

11.Vaasa, the bloodstone lands. The Witch King Zhengyi is rumoured to have left numerous scattered artifacts of his legacy across the plains, many capable of possessing the unwary and threatening to rebuild Castle Perilous, with the threat of His eventual return. Thinks lots of gargoyles, undead, and maybe a dracolich.

12.A ship to Chult, a lost plateau, many and more dinosaurs.

13.The jungles near Hlondeth, an ancient towering ziggurat. The Yuanti have had a long and tumultuous history with deities. The various snake gods are many, and often supplanted. This tribe in centuries past turned to other, darker gods. Gods seemingly more powerful and with the mastery of Death itself, certainly They would be going nowhere. Will you tell these slathering, crazed snake-men that the Dead Three are well... dead?

[Solaghar]

Thanks for all that Casamir! I'd definitely like to see something going on in the Icewind Dale region, the far northwest around Luskan, Ten Towns, that whole area... the Uthgardt barbarian tribes, the snow creatures, all of that. Thay would be another great addition, though I can say there's a Thayvian city, Bezantur, that is 80% done, just needs some more objects and quests to make it really fun, I'm going to try to get it out there in the near future so we can bring the Red Wizards into the game in some fasion. Some very cool ideas there... hope some people will pick one and run with it!

[Atraos]

Morning

I have zero experience in anything to do with building but I am more than happy to help with anything that is needed.

A couple of ideas I have however:-

Menzo newbie area:- A revamp of this area to increase the size. Add a couple of simplistics quests to get newbie drow up an running. Introduce a larger training area for levels 1-10

Menzo Moss fields and Rothe Island:- Enlarge this area, add a quest, Make it a better training area for levels 5-15.

Goblin Encampment:- Add an area near to Menzo and Blingdenstone. Goblin cave area living in fear of slavery from the Drow (Slavery Quest for Drow). Different varities of Goblin to fight, add a quest for Svirfs to thwart the Drow slavery.

Renegade Drow Quest:- Using existing areas add an mid-high level quest for Drow/Svirf. There is a hunt on to find a run away drow, he has something of great importance and must not be allowed to escape.



As I have said, these are just a couple of ideas. I have no experience on how to write/code these things but I am willing to give it a go with a nudge in the right direction.

Thanks

[Solaghar]

I really like the idea of the goblin encampment near Menzoberranzan with the associated slave/freeing quest that can incorporate both Drow and Svirfneblin, mind if I sign you up for that?

[Atraos]

Nope...Go for it...I will need my hand holding through it though:)

As I said, I am a complete Beginner

[Solaghar]

I'll guide you through it completely, The first thing I'd suggest is figuring out how many rooms you need to represent your idea. For a goblin settlement, I'd suggest 10, gives it enough rooms to have interaction but doesn't limit it all to 4 rooms and a crossroad, you could have a bit of character. But it's up to you! Draw up a simple map like...

Code: Select all

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I usually use graph paper, don't be afraid of diagonal exits though! Figure out what the different rooms will be for, who will be there? Want to have a quest? Who will give the quest... post your ideas right here and I'll help you work through them!

[Trillarel]

Menzo newbie area:- A revamp of this area to increase the size. Add a couple of simplistics quests to get newbie drow up an running. Introduce a larger training area for levels 1-10

Menzo Moss fields and Rothe Island:- Enlarge this area, add a quest, Make it a better training area for levels 5-15.

Renegade Drow Quest:- Using existing areas add an mid-high level quest for Drow/Svirf. There is a hunt on to find a run away drow, he has something of great importance and must not be allowed to escape.

I love the ideas. I wish I had the time and skills to help building...

[Tandria]

I don't know anything about the Underdark in the least. That said, I have some building background in the game, and would be happy to pair up with a beginning builder to help with coding a minor area or two, or helping flesh out the ideas.

[Solaghar]

Sorry that's my fault, I wasn't very clear. The settlements can be anywhere, not just in the Underdark. That's a separate project I'm doing myself. People can build whatever place they want, Underdark or surface.

[Lirith]

I'm interested in having a go at this. I will take a look at Volo's and pick something suitable from there. Not more than 5 vnums.

[Solaghar]

Cool! Look forward to seeing what you come up with, I've got a vnum block set up and I'm slowly adding the stuff that's complete, mostly old temple stuff people did for the minor shrines area. I'll get the half-completed area up on the test port soon!

[Anguin]

I'd like to try this out.

I had an idea about a ruined keep in a swamp, now inhabited by lizardmen.

It would be in a swamp close to a road... maybe the Mere of Dead Men. 10 rooms.

Please let me know what's needed.

Thanks!

[Kethyean]

I'm currently working on the mere of deadmen. It would fit in nicely into what I have in the works.

[Ashbel]

I would really enjoy working on a few small Caravansary places in the Calimshan sands. I have written quite a lot of stuff up- room descs, mobs descs, items that the merchants and vendors might sell. I have no experience in coding, but I'm a keen writer and would love to contribute. My main interest is in the Bedine culture- specifically the Calimshan aspects- but it's new to me so a bit of guidance would be much appreciated. I have to say that I don't have much free time to learn coding- so I couldn't commit to that- but I am very happy to write areas and the quests/mobs/items that would go with it.

-Ash

[Solaghar]

I'd like to try this out.

I had an idea about a ruined keep in a swamp, now inhabited by lizardmen.

It would be in a swamp close to a road... maybe the Mere of Dead Men. 10 rooms.

Please let me know what's needed.

Thanks!

Hey sure! Let's stay away from Mere of the Dead Men because it's currently being built and I don't want to have the same thing going on there. There are plenty of other swamps however, especially far out east where there isn't a lot, especially a big one out by Thay/Yuirwood/Tabaxi Lair. We could definitely have something cool to see out there... another reason for people to adventure in the east. I like the idea of a lizardman tribe in the swamp, so what you should do is simply make yourself a simple map, write the room descriptions, the mob descriptions/names, the object names and anything special about them, then just send it to me and I'll put it all together! If you need help just send me a PM...

I would really enjoy working on a few small Caravansary places in the Calimshan sands. I have written quite a lot of stuff up- room descs, mobs descs, items that the merchants and vendors might sell. I have no experience in coding, but I'm a keen writer and would love to contribute. My main interest is in the Bedine culture- specifically the Calimshan aspects- but it's new to me so a bit of guidance would be much appreciated. I have to say that I don't have much free time to learn coding- so I couldn't commit to that- but I am very happy to write areas and the quests/mobs/items that would go with it.

-Ash

Hey Ash, that's another very cool idea! I love the Calimshan area myself, and wish there was more there. Though I'm not too clear, are the Bedine the ones from the Anauroch or Calimshan? I know there's a Bedine camp in Anauroch, sort of Arab nomads, while Calimshan is the more advanced like Ottomans/Persian style Middle East. I'd absolutely love to be able to get an area and put it together with your input. Just like I said above, make a map of your area, in mspaint, excel, whatever, doesn't matter. Note what each room is/which mobs are there. Then just send me their descriptions, any items they sell, what the objects are, you can specify color codes if you like. Whatever you give me, I'll put it all together! If you want a quest, just say the general progression, go to this mob, tell me what he'll say, next step is blah blah, the more you give, the easier it is for me to put it together! But you absolutely don't have to be able to code, if you can write a few descriptions and name a few objects you're already there.

[Ashbel]

Ack! You're absolutely right, of course- the Bedine are in the Anauroch. I meant to say that I was interested in *both* the Bedine and the Calimshan cultures, but more the Persian/Middle East flavours of Calimshan. I'll send over what I have so far and get to work on some quests that would be fitting for the areas. Looking forward to working on this as it's such a rich culture and ripe for adventure!

[Hrosskell]

Just checking on this: I've written full descriptions/dialogues for a 10 VNUM area (less than 10 new mobs, items, rooms) including a quest, but I have not (and honestly cannot) write the code parts. Is this still open for that kind of submission, or have you already filled up on this sort of stuff, Sol?

[Solaghar]

It's absolutely open for submission, I've got my plate full getting another few areas ready for the game, but once that is done I will tackle this.